Bill clip



June 8, 1954 BRYAN 2,680,275

BILL CLIP Filed March 31, 1950 INVENTOR Z; on: fiem/l/ ATTORNEY Patented June 8, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BILL CLIP Lloyd Bryan, Napa, Calif.

Application March 31, 1950, Serial No. 153,061

2 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to a novel and improved bill clip to hold paper money folded in such a manner as to be easily accessible and firmly held against disengagement.

The usual bill clip on the market today comprises a pair of arms flexibly connected together and adapted to be slipped over the folded bills to hold same in a compact package. The bills can be readily slipped out individually or as a package. This type of clip is objectionable in that there is no positive connection between the bill clip and the folded bills and the clip occassionally slips off the folded bills thereby affecting its usefulness. A further objection to this type of clip is that the clip becomes distorted when applied to a large number of bills and subsequent use on a small number of bills requires that the clip be bent back to its original shape.

A still further objection to the conventional type of clip is the fact that when carried in a pocket with other personal items, the clip may be accidentally separated from the folded bills during removal from the pocket. The conventional type of clip in order to be eiTective is of relatively large size thereby constituting a considerable surface bearing against the pocket of the user resulting in increased wear against the pocket material.

In its simplest form, the present invention contemplates a bill clip formed of three elements consisting of a pair of arms connected by a spring member. The spring member is equal to the width of the bills to be clipped and extends into the fold formed by the folded bills. Each of the arms overlap each other and due to the resiliency of the spring member, tend to press against each other. When assembled with a number of folded bills, the arms bear against opposite sides of the outermost folded bill. As a result of this construction, the clip is interconnected with the folded bills in such manner as to eliminate accidental separation of the clip and bills.

A further feature of the present invention resides in the provision of an improved clip construction wherein a portion of the clip is housed within the folded pack of bills thereby reducing the amount of clip material contacting the pocket surface without sacrificing the holding function of the clip.

Inasmuch as the clip is carried on the person at all times, it is well adaptable to identification plates, may have small compartments added for the safe carrying of small papers, such as a drivers license, or even have small collapsible knife blades, fingernail file and the like.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement ofparts to be hereinafter more fully illustrated, described and claimed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of a preferred form of the invention.

Figure 2 illustrates a perspective viewof the improved bill clip in association with a package of folded bills.

Figure 3 is a similar view showing a bill partly removed.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a section of a modified form of bill clip.

Referring to Figure 1 showing a preferred embodiment of the invention, the clip comprises three main elements designated by the letters A, B and 0. Element A is an L-shaped member consisting of legs I0 and l I formed of metal which may be of gold, silver or any suitable plated metal. It may be cast into the shape shown or bent into form from fiat stock. Leg Il may be of any desired shape but should be of suflicient width to enable the surface to be inscribed with the name of the owner. Element B is similarly shaped and consists of legs I2 and I3. The two elements A and B are oppositely disposed with legs to and I2 facing each other and legs II and I3 slightly overlapping. Element C comprises a coil spring I4 having its ends suitably secured as by welding or soldering to the lower inner faces of legs I0 and I2. The coil spring I4 normally presses the two legs I l and 13 towards each other but enables ready separation of the two legs.

The clip is assembled with the sheets or bills l5 as follows:

The sheets or bills I5 are initially stacked uniformly and slipped laterally between the legs II and I3 with the spring member M extending transversely of the stacked bills approximately midway of the stack. At this point of the assembly, the clip straddles the stack of bills with leg l2 bearing against an edge of the stack as seen in Figures 2 and 3, leg I3 bearing against the outer surface of the outermost bill, and leg II and spring I4 bearing against the surface of the innermost bill. The stack is then folded about the spring and the folded half slipped between the leg I I and the upper half of the innermost bill.

It will be apparent from the above that the stack of bills will be held in compact form without any likelihood of the clip working loose from the stack. To remove a bill, one: half of the bill can be slipped from under the leg H as seen in Figure 3 and then separated from the stack by a simple pull.

As previously pointed out, the present construction adapts itself to further uses and may have incorporated therewith numerous useful accessories. As seen in Figure 5, the same parts illustrated in Figure 1 are shown as elements l0, l3 and M with element II modified to form a pocket for a folding knife blade 16. The clip functions in the same manner as previously described with the additional advantage of an easily carried pen knife.

While I have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention and a slight modification thereof, it will be readily apparent that further changes may be made in the construction of the clip without departing from the inventive concept thereof. Accordingly, I do not wish to be limited precisely to the construction shown except as may be required by the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

l. A money clip for holding paper currency in a single fold condition comprising a torsion spring member adapted to be received within the folded currency at the fold thereof, said spring member being of such length as to be ccextensive with the width of the paper currency, two parallel members adapted to lie along opposite edges of the folded currency, each parallel member being at right angles to the spring member and having its lower end secured to the respective end of the spring member, said parallel members having inwardly directed arms at their upper ends, each of said arms being of a length greater than one half of the length of the spring member and less than the full length of the spring member, said spring member being under such tension as to urge the arms into contact with each other.

2. A money clip as defined in claim 1, said torsion spring member being in the form'of a coil spring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 467,317 Thompson Jan. 19, 1892 883,317 Kindwall Mar. 31, 1908 1,391,739 King Sept. 2'7, 1921 2,371,505 Coffey Mar. 13, 1945 

